How to Transform Loneliness or Sadness into Peace and Joy

Christmas is my favorite holiday. Just the the thought of how my family and I gather around our real-candle-lit Christmas tree with songs, love, and stories makes me happy.

Although I love Christmas, my first Christmas after coming down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was tough. The feast of love triggered in me difficult emotions, such as sadness, loneliness, and feelings of loss.

Why do difficult emotions come up on Christmas?

Participating in the Christmas celebrations requires a lot of energy. It’s not uncommon for sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia to have our internal energy run out even before the first course of the Christmas meal ends. As a result, we might notice a light headache set in, and our general level of fatigue worsens.

In order to cope, we really should rest for a few minutes—but it’s painful to retreat from the life and laughter of our loved family. The first minutes in our room on our own can be overwhelmingly lonely. We miss our family and, to make matters worse, we now fully feel the symptoms we were able to drown out with excitement and laughter when we were still with our family.

Also, if you’re like me, you have a very clear idea of what your favorite Christmases have been like in the past, and what this year’s celebration should look, feel, and—Yum!—taste like.

However, because of your symptoms (such as fatigue or pain), reality doesn’t quite live up to your expectations. In my case, the joy of Christmas was marred by my usual tired and wired feeling and brain fog (in fibromyalgia, this is often referred to as fibro fog). Our traditional Christmas meal, “Heringsalad”, still tasted as good as it used to—but my stomach no longer tolerated it.

In short, we remember how awesome Christmas used to be and we miss the good ol’ times. As a result, a feeling of loss is triggered, which can add to the loneliness or sadness.

Release difficult emotions and experience peace

Knowing how difficult Christmas emotions can be, I want to share with you a guided meditation which I’ve created to support you in releasing negative emotions and transforming them into a feeling of peace and well-being. I hope it will allow you, after only 20 minutes of deep rest, to rejoin the Christmas celebration with renewed energy and joy.

Free Guided Meditation

Access the guided meditation here. If you can, shove it on your iPod, so that you have easy access to it when you need it most.

Tip #1: Don’t wait until Christmas to begin releasing and transforming negative emotions. Just as a sailor needs to learn sailing before he faces a storm, you want to be practice with the guided meditation in calm waters, before facing a storm of difficult emotions.

Tip #2: If you liked this article, you can ensure that you won’t miss any future goodness by signing up for my free newsletter here or in the orange box below.